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Yahoo! forms council for evolution of digital media and online advertising

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Yahoo! announced the formation of a Digital Advisory Council that will consist of industry executives from its agency and advertiser partners. The Council will work collaboratively to explore the continued evolution of digital media and online advertising.

The Council will serve as a vehicle for soliciting feedback and will supplement Yahoo!’s daily conversations with advertisers. Active discussion with key customers is an important pillar in making Yahoo! a partner of choice, particularly during a time when competition for ad dollars is as robust as ever. Yahoo!’s Digital Advisory Council will first meet in the fourth quarter of this year.

Originally posted on September 24, 2008 @ 10:28 am

Yahoo! and Rhapsody deliver song playback in search

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Yahoo! and Rhapsody are putting the play buttons right in the search box and making the web playable. Users who search for an artist with available content on Yahoo! will be able to click play right in the Yahoo! shortcut at the top of the search results and instantly stream full-length songs by that artist through the FoxyTunes Player, which is powered by Rhapsody.

“The launch of full-song playback in Yahoo! Search brings us closer to realizing Yahoo! Music’s vision of making the web playable and removing the barriers that prevent people from clicking play and hearing music,” said Michael Spiegelman, head of Yahoo! Music. “The powerful combination of Rhapsody and Yahoo!’s FoxyTunes Player will greatly enhance the discovery and consumption of music on the Web by giving online music fans what they want – an easy way to hear music.”

Originally posted on September 18, 2008 @ 2:25 pm

Yahoo! done with social networking attempt

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In case you missed this news going towards weekend, let me inform you that Yahoo! is done with its social networking play, announcing that it is shutting down Mash.

“Thank you for trying out Mash Beta service, We hope you had fun with it. Please note that we will shut down Mash on September 29, 2008. As a result, your current profile on Mash will no longer be available,” Matt Warburton, community manager, wrote in an email to members.

Mash launched a year ago with hopes of competing against Facebook. Obviously, Yahoo! failed on this one. We’ll not be sad on this one. It stinks anyway.

Originally posted on September 1, 2008 @ 9:05 am

Will Yahoo Buzz Bring YOUR Site Traffic?

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Since it’s launch in February, Yahoo! Buzz has really not created much, well, buzz.  Part of the problem was that only about 100 content creators were invited to submit stories, text and video.

Today, the doors are now open to everyone.  You can submit stories here.

Unlike Digg or the recently shuttered Thoof, there is editorial discretion, meaning you will likely have to get passed a human before gaming the system.  This will likely keep some Web site owners today. However, the lure of potentially being featured on Yahoo’s homepage, is the Golden Ticket that will keep bloggers rolling the dice.

If you’re not familiar with Yahoo! Buzz, here’s the scoop in their own words:

The best of the best – chosen by people like you.

* The buzz can be about anything – a great story on a major news site, an extraordinary bit from an obscure site, an intriguing video, or a fantastic blog that shouldn’t be missed.
* Instead of editors, people like you determine the top-rated stories.

How it works.

* First, we determine the most popular topics that people are searching for on Yahoo!.
* Then, we showcase the most popular stories within those topics, based on activities like voting and emailing stories to friends.
* Stories with most Buzz may be published on the Yahoo! home page – you can impact what millions will see on Yahoo!.

If you experience the Buzz Effect, we’d love to hear about it.

Originally posted on August 19, 2008 @ 10:12 am

Yahoo’s Fire Eagle Goes Public

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Yahoo’s new geo-location platform, that gives developers the ability to include positional data in their applications sans headache, is now open to the public.  Dubbed Fire Eagle, the project was announced back in November ’07 and has already been adopted by Six Apart and LightPole.

What makes Fire Eagle neat is that users can syndicate their positional data to any partner service.  All you have to do is update from a supported device or Web site. Talk about taking stalking to a whole new level!

For example: send a geo-tagged photo to my favorite photo site and Fire Eagle will automatically update my current location on my blog and social network profiles.

Thankfully, users can disable the tracking anytime they like.

Playing hooky from work?  Fear not.  The system allows you to lie about your location as well.

Since existing Yahoo IDs can be used, many expect Fire Eagle to be well-embraced by developers. Take your location to the Web, painlessly.

Originally posted on August 13, 2008 @ 9:29 am